A French woman parliamentarian said she was “trembling and sweating” and fearing that she might have a heart attack as he narrated her ordeal about her drink being allegedly spiked by a senator.
Sandrine Josso, an MP for the centrist MoDem party, broke her silence on Wednesday (Nov 22) after centre-right senator, Joël Guerriau, 66, was last week arrested and charged with “administering to a person, without their knowledge, a substance that could alter their judgment or self-control in order to commit a rape or sexual assault”.
He was also charged with possession and use of substances classed as drugs.
The incident rocked the French establishment and exposed deeper malice over, what the MP said, the “scourge” of drink-spiking in France.
In two separate interviews, Jasso said that she was “still in a state of shock” after the alleged incident last week.
Speaking to France 5 TV, the parliamentarian said that she wants to raise awareness that it can happen to anyone, regardless of their status and age.
‘Want to raise awareness’
“Anyone can go through what I suffered,” Josso told France 5 TV, urging the government to take action.
Josso accused the senator of giving her a glass of champagne spiked with the drug ecstasy.
The incident happened last Tuesday when Guerriau, who is said to be a work friend of Josso for 10 years, invited the MP to his re-election to the senate.
They were supposed to meet at a restaurant. “But then he said it would be at his [home]…because there would be less people, less noise and he would cook fajitas,” Josso told BFMTV. She had only been to his home once in the past decade.
Here’s what happened
When Josso was in the living room, Guerriau brought two glass of champagne from his kitchen.
She said that his behaviour was strange, as he kept turning the light dimmer switch up very bright and then down low again, and he kept saying cheers and clinking glasses to encourage her to drink, which worried her.
“What seemed bizarre was this desire to clink glasses several times, so I would drink again. The champagne didn’t taste normal, it tasted sweet,” Josso said.
She said doctors had later told her that turning lights up bright then lowering them are thought to activate the effects of a drug.
She then somehow left the senator’s house and helped by the taxi driver and parliamentary colleagues who met her and called paramedics.
She then called the leader of the lower house of parliament, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who helped her to file a police complaint.
Hospital tests later revealed that Josso’s drink was spiked with ecstasy.
(With inputs from agencies)
